*Note that all times are listed in US Eastern Time.
Monday, March 22, 2021
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM ET
Opening Session
Q&A Session 1: Influenza/RSV
Chaired by María-Jesús Pérez-Pérez and Johan Neyts
Louis Bont, MD, PhD, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands
Treating RSV infection
Rachel Fearns, PhD, Boston University School of Medicine, Massachusetts, USA
The polymerase complex of the non-segmented negative strand RNA viruses: differences in initiation mechanisms
Ron Fouchier, PhD, Erasmus MC Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Now that we have the world’s attention: Influenza!
Additional short presentations
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Special Event: Women in Science Roundtable
7:30 PM - 8:30 PM ET
Poster Session 1A
8:30 PM - 9:00 PM ET
Speed Networking Session 1
9:00 PM - 10:00 PM ET
Q&A Session 2: Pandemic Preparedness (dedicated to Mark Prichard) and Gertrude Elion Memorial Award
Chaired by Pei-Yong Shi and Rich Whitley
William Lee, PhD, Gilead Sciences, California, USA
2021 Gertrude Elion Memorial Award Recipient
Defining Innovation in the Quest for Treatment, Prevention and Cure of Viral Diseases
Tomas Cihlar, PhD, Gilead Sciences, California, USA
Antivirals and preparedness for pandemics: what we have and what we need
Philip Dormitzer, MD, PhD, Pfizer, Inc., New York, USA
Scientific basis for the rapid development of highly effective RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines
Pei-Yong Shi, PhD, University of Texas Medical Branch, USA
SARS-CoV-2 biology and countermeasure development
Additional short presentations
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM ET
Q&A Session 3: COVID-19 Vaccines
Chaired by Rhonda Cardin and Kara Carter
Ann Arvin, MD, Stanford University; Senior Advisor, Vir Biotechnology, California, USA
A perspective on viral vaccine immunity and the issue of disease enhancement
Florian Krammer, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
Antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
Hanneke Schuitemaker, PhD, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., The Netherlands
Janssen’s effort in the development of an Ad26 based COVID-19 vaccine
Tal Zaks, MD, PhD,Moderna, Massachusetts, USA
Overview of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine: safety, immunogenicity and efficacy
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM ET
Speed Networking Session 2
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Poster Session 2A
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM ET
Special Event: Career Development Interactive Workshop
Prof. Jen Heemstra, PhD, Associate Chemistry Professor at Emory University
You belong: finding confidence in the face of self-doubt and impostor syndrome
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
Q&A Session 4: COVID-19 Therapeutics and Diversity Speaker Award
Chaired by Luis Schang and Kathie Seley-Radtke
Craig Cameron, PhD, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, USA
2021 Diversity Speaker Award Recipient
My career-long fascination with antiviral therapeutics
Bruno Canard, PhD, University of Marseille, France
The SARS-CoV1 and 2 replication/transcription machinery and its future for drug-design
Kyeong-Ok Chang, DVM, MS, PhD, College of Veterinary Medicine Kansas State University
Development of small molecule protease inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2
Christoph Nitsche, PhD, Australian National University
Targeting the Proteases of SARS-CoV-2 and Other RNA Viruses
John Pierre "JP" Sommadossi, PhD, Atea Pharmaceuticals
AT-527, a double prodrug of a guanosine nucleotide analog, is a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and a promising oral antiviral for treatment of COVID-19
Additional short presentations
9:00 PM - 9:45 PM ET
Q&A Session 5: Retroviruses and Herpes Viruses
Chaired by Galit Alter and Tomas Cihlar
Christine Johnston, MD, MPH, University of Washington
HSV-1 and Alzheimer’s Disease: causation or association? Understanding the biologic plausibility
Robert Siliciano, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Barriers to curing HIV infection
Jennifer Zhang, MS, Gilead Sciences
Lenacapavir: A first-in-class phase 2/3 HIV capsid inhibitor with potential for twice yearly dosing
Additional short presentations
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET
Poster Session 1B
12:00 PM - 12:45 PM ET
Q&A Session 6: Other Viruses and Women in Science Speaker Award
Chaired by Chris Meier and Joana Rocha-Pereira
Graciela Andrei, PhD, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven
2021 Women in Science Speaker Award Recipient
Genetic diversity and evolution of herpesviruses
Judith Breuer, PhD, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Antiviral agents for serious RNA virus infections; a personalised medicine approach
Jeroen Kortekaas, PhD, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR)
Four-segmented Rift Valley fever virus as a novel live-attenuated vaccine for animal and human use
Maria Rosenthal, PhD, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
Understanding the multiple functions of the bunyavirus polymerase protein
Additional short presentations
12:45 PM - 1:00 PM ET
ISAR Annual Business Meeting
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
Poster Session 2B
9:00 PM - 9:45 PM ET
Q&A Session 7: Arboviruses
Chaired by Justin Julander and Subhash Vasudevan
Mark Heise, PhD, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
New strategies for modeling and treating emerging viral pathogens
Jenny Low, MBBS, MRCP, MPH, Duke-NUS Medical School/SingHealth
Biologics as therapeutics for rapid outbreak response - can we get there fast enough?
Johan Neyts, PhD, University of Leuven, Belgium
Pan-serotype dengue virus inhibitor that blocks the NS3-NS4B interaction and exhibits unprecedented in vivo potency
Additional short presentations
Thursday, March 25, 2021
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM ET
Q&A Session 8: Hepatitis Viruses and William Prusoff Memorial Award
Chaired by Jerome Deval and David Durantel
David Durantel, PhD, Center for Infectiology Research of Lyon (CIRI)- INSERM U1111
2021 William Prusoff Memorial Award Recipient
Mid-term report on my academic journey to discover novel HBV/HDV therapeutics
Adam Gehring, PhD, Toronto Centre for Liver Disease
Towards combination treatments for Chronic Hepatitis B: an immunologist’s point of view
Eike Steinmann, PhD, Ruhr University Bochum
Principles of Hepatitis E virus replication, persistence and antiviral strategies
John Tavis, PhD, Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Towards combination treatments for chronic hepatitis B: A virologist point of view
Additional short presentations
11:45 AM - 12:30 PM ET
Q&A Session 9: Technology and Antonín Holý Memorial Award
Chaired by Andrea Brancale and Jennifer Moffatt
Eddy Arnold, PhD, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University
2021 Antonín Holy Memorial Award Recipient
The long and winding road: 35 Years of HIV reverse Transcriptase structure, mechanism, and successful anti-AIDS drug design
Matthew Disney, PhD, The Scripps Research Institute
Sequence-based design of small molecules targeting RNA
Chris Meier, PhD, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Design of nucleotide prodrugs for antiviral chemotherapy – the TriPPPro-Approach
Christiane Wobus, PhD, University of Michigan Medical School
Investigating enterotropic virus infections in human intestinal organoids
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM ET
Special Event: PechaKucha Competition
7:00 PM - 8:45 PM ET
Q&A Session 10: Other Respiratory Viruses
Chaired by Mike Lo and Robert Jordan
Hector Aguilar-Carreno, PhD, Cornell University
Emerging deadly viruses and their glycoproteins - From infection to vaccines and antivirals
Emmie de Wit, PhD, NIAID
Remdesivir treatment for emerging virus infections
James Gern MD, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
The ABCs of rhinovirus infections and asthma
Additional short presentations
Closing Session
Agenda Snapshot
About ISAR
The International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR) is an internationally recognized organization for scientists involved in basic, applied, and clinical aspects of antiviral research. The Society main event is the annual International Conference on Antiviral Research (ICAR), a truly interdisciplinary meeting which attracts the interest of chemists, biologists, and clinicians.
